Classroom Lessons via Zoom

[jjx111]

AIBU to expect the teachers at my daughter’s rs primary school to offer at least some lessons via Zoom? The feedback I have been given is that that they aren’t offering it due to a) safeguarding issues, and b) it would add to the teachers workload. Well, surely if we parents consent for our child to sign in for these lessons then no safeguarding issue. Plus, at present, we parents are doing at least 60% of the teachers work for them via homeschooling. (I appreciate that they are setting work for the children, but this is part of the planning they would do anyway).

Jesus wept will you listen to yourselves. It’s like a massive echo chamber on here! People ask questions, are answered then on the next page ask the same question. People make a stupid assumption, are corrected then, next page, guess what?

1. Many many schools are not doing Zoom lesson a because they have been told not to by the LEA.
2. Many schools are not set up for Zoom etc and teachers are not trained for it 3)Many schools do not provide laptops etc for staff therefore teachers don’t have the tools Apparently it is ‘defeatist’ and ‘can’t do’ to mention this but, you know, hey ho! As for the rest of the shite people are posting ... can’t even be bothered. I’ll just leave you to carry on frothing and winding each other up like the bunch of Violet Elizabeth’s you really are. ‘It’s not faaaaaaiiiiirrrr. I’ll scweam and scream and scweam until I’m thick !!!!’ Have at it!

The thing is, anyone with a full time job who isn't furloughed will be suffering the same thing. We're lucky enough to have two adults in the house who can share responsibilities (I know some aren't), but still from 8am-5pm we have to share. That means one of us sits with the children helping their learning whilst the other works. It would be great to steal another hour or so back by them having an engaging activity with their teacher, that's one hour less to work between 9pm and midnight. When work isn't set it means finding work for them to do and keeping them engaged, multiply that by 2 or 3 and it becomes extremely difficult.

I'm not saying teachers need live lessons from 9am-3pm, just something a little more engaging so that we can trust them to sit down and be focused so we can get on with our own jobs.

How many teachers don’t have access to a laptop? Or can they only use school laptops - I’m sure there will be some safeguarding or union rule about that too!

penguins They don’t want to hear about any of that! It’s ‘defeatist’ doncha know?
It’s just a huge chorus of ‘But what about meeeeeeeeeee????’

sultan I don’t know the exact figure. Shall I go and find out for you? Clearly you know more about safeguarding and unions than me though so I’ll let you answer your own question.

How many teachers don’t have access to a laptop? Or can they only use school laptops - I’m sure there will be some safeguarding or union rule about that too!

That's a cheap shot.
When I enquired about borrowing a laptop from work before lockdown, I was told they didn't work offsite.

I don't know who has a laptop from work, but I was lucky that dh had a work one that he wasn't using and I've had to buy a keyboard, headset and laptop riser myself.

But, as I've said before, just because a kid is sat in.front of a zoom lesson, it's doesn't mean they're engaged or learning. Just like a quiet kid gazing at me in.class and looking rapt might not actually be participating.

The kids who are engaged are the ones asking me qs about the work.I'm setting and the ones handing it in.

Penguins,

I am a teacher (doing Zoom, private school). I know the deal. But, maybe, as someone who was a senior manager in a completely different field before I was a teacher, I can see that the education establishment accepts some things because ‘that is just the way it is always done’ rather than questioning it.

CPD is an ongoing thing that takes place over years. Yes, the online safeguarding needs to be done but, in reality, is a few hours worth of work, not a major issue (as the vast majority of staff will be updating their knowledge, not redoing all the modules). The rest of the CPD could easily be deferred several months. As you said yourself, these are unprecedented times.

As for needing to have meetings rather than ‘rocking up’ on the 1st of June, could you not just prepare some resources and send them out for comment? Is face to face time really that important? Ultimately that is what you/we are saying to pupils and their families.

We are obviously teaching different age groups and demographics but I do know that my skills lie in a combination of strong subject knowledge and pedagogy and, unless I can help students overcome hurdles and ask questions (face to face), the vast majority would make at best 25% of their normal progress.

I will never lecture better than Brian Cox or prepare as good a resources as, for instance, Kerboodle. So I don’t waste my time doing that (or not too much of it, anyway).

@xsquared It was a genuine question - we are all using our own resources to wfh

It's not getting ahead though. Its thing we would normally be doing at this point in the year.

The timing isn’t particularly important.

The main reason for employing teachers is to educate children. Not doing that to the best of your ability isn’t justified due to you spending time ordering resources.

So while I'm teaching all these whizzy Zoom lessons, what are my own dc doing? And all this "it would give us poor working parents an hour to do our own work" - really? You can guarantee your dc from what, 4 upwards, will definitely sit in front of a screen, at home, and engage with the lesson? I'm not sure how I stop children logging off/shutting the screen/muting their mics...and if you need to be there to ensure that they don't, you're not getting peace to work anyway are you?

As I keep stating on these threads - most teachers I know are also working parents. At least 3 of my colleagues are at home with 3 dc under 6. How do they teach Zoom lessons for hours at a time with their own dc to manage? Most teachers are facing the same issues/stresses/time management hassles as other working parents.

All professions have CPD to do. But if they prioritise that over the main focus of their role, they don’t last long.

Except if they’re teachers it seems.

Who would safeguard the teachers, OP, if they have to use Zoom?

And incidentally parents are not able to waive safeguarding restrictions for their own children.

As I keep stating on these threads - most teachers I know are also working parents

So? So are most of us. It’s a fucking nightmare, but if we slack off in other professions we won’t have a job for very long.

@yogafailure at least you’re honest - teachers are not working because they are prioritising their own kids - I thought key worker’s kids were supposed to go to school, enabling key workers to work?

thought key worker’s kids were supposed to go to school, enabling key workers to work?

Unless they are wfh - the advice has always been to keep your children home if at all possible.

I still want someone to explain how I effectively live teach when 50% don’t have a device and at least a further 10/15% can’t or won’t engage in remote learning 🤷🏻‍♀️

I still want someone to explain how I effectively live teach when 50% don’t have a device

How can you do anything in those circs because presumably they’re not getting emailed work either?

Imagine, people prioritising their own dc! I forgot that being a teacher means being to blame for all every bloody thing. Many teachers have reasons why their own dc aren't in the hubs. If all teachers in my region put their dcs in the hubs during the day, almost all of us would then be on shift in the hubs to provide cover - for our own dc - and no one would be sitting at home providing Zoom lessons anyway!

Again, I'll ask - if teachers are such feckless, lazy, untrustworthy twats...why are so many people frothing at the mouth to offload their dc on them for 5 days a week? I'm amazed anyone entrusts their dc with these reluctant, lying, uncooperative monsters even when there's not a bloody pandemic happening 🤷‍♀️

Laurie - we have been sending out revision guides and activity packs.

@Sultanarama Sorry, it's just the way it was worded with the added comment about unions and safeguarding made it look like sarcasm.

Anyway, I don't know for certain but there have been many mners who have to wfh have already mentioned that trying to homeschool at the same time was difficult because not everyone has a laptop each.

Since lockdown, we have had to buy various equipment for ourselves and the dcs to be able to work at the same time. I realise not all families are able to afford a laptop each, along with other computing accessories which is another reason why doing live online classes is problematic for some pupils.

So while I'm teaching all these whizzy Zoom lessons, what are my own dc doing?

Honestly, what do you think millions of people working from home are doing? People every day are having to do zoom conference meetings with children in the house. There's always three different reasons as to why you can't do something but they're rarely insurmountable. All the teachers that are already teaching live lessons and have their own children appear to be managing, just like every other parent working full time from home

How can you do anything in those circs because presumably they’re not getting emailed work either?

Printing out and delivering the work that we’re emailing the rest of the students. Teachers are delivering by hand.

If I was live teaching I wouldn’t be able to deliver a hard copy of that, would I...

"This type of behaviour is why teachers cannot do zoom online lessons."

Plenty are though, particularly in the private sector. What’s the difference for them?

With private schools, you can kick the families out (or, more often "manage them out") if they can't control their kids' behavior. That doesn't mean the kids always behave like angels, but in general behavior will be more reliable.

Again, I'll ask - if teachers are such feckless, lazy, untrustworthy twats...why are so many people frothing at the mouth to offload their dc on them for 5 days a week?*

OTT much? By the looks of this thread and many others, some people are getting next to no educational provision for their kids and this emotional overreaction is the response they get when they dare to question it. FFS